Editorial: DOT must move fast on water pollution

Dec. 13, 2012

Coming Sunday: The Journal shows how this investigation makes a compelling case for a comprehensive well-testing law throughout the county. To read the Journal’s series on road salt contamination, go to http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/section/watchdog.

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After more than 17 years of missteps, misjudgments and misplaced priorities, the state says it is going to make good on water pollution it caused — contamination that has wreaked havoc on the lives of at least a dozen homeowners in a section of Hopewell Junction.

Surely, state Department of Transportation officials owe it to these residents to move swiftly, considering the haphazard way they have handled this issue to date. It took, in fact, a Poughkeepsie Journal investigation before it became clear the DOT was going to respond in a much more thorough manner.

The groundwater contamination was caused by road salt stored uncovered in a DOT maintenance facility at the intersection of Route 52 and the Taconic State Parkway. The state DOT has subsequently covered the salt and constructed a shed.

In a subsequent court case, a state claims judge ruled the DOT was negligent for keeping the road salt at the site in such a manner in the first place, allowing it to leech into the ground.

Over the years, the DOT has taken action, including providing bottled water and conducting well tests at some of the affected properties. It also purchased one of the affected homes in 2002 then sold it, at a substantial loss, in 2010.

Yet, a comprehensive, long-term fix has not been in the offing — and DOT officials initially balked and stonewalled the Poughkeepsie Journal this year when environmental reporter John Ferro sought answers.

As the Journal was about to go to publication with an in-depth story on the matter, the DOT Commissoner Joan McDonald publicly pledged to address the problem, acknowledging that the affected property owners “are justifiably frustrated with the department’s response to date and, frankly, so am I.”

McDonald had every good reason to make such comments.

Astonishingly, at one point, a state DOT official sent a letter to one of the homeowners, saying that the aquifer is “well on its way to clearing itself.”

But the Journal’s investigation showed that average levels of contamination in the groundwater have remained virtually unchanged since the problem was first discovered in 1995.

While the DOT bears the bulk of responsibility for failing to act, the state Department of Environmental Conservation should have been pushing harder for long-term solutions here. By not following up more thoroughly, the DEC essentially became DOT’s enabler.

Clearly, these homes need to be hooked up to clean water source, either an existing municipal system or through the creation of a new — and safe — well field. And the state must pay for this work. McDonald has ordered a comprehensive study to analyze and collect data, evaluate salt sources and make recommendations on solutions.

It’s patently obvious this matter has gone on long enough. These residents have deserved a far better response from their government officials; the DOT must now make good its promise to rectify the situation.